


Scientific Method

by Kumakins



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types
Genre: Discussions of Love and Sexuality, LabTech X, M/M, Sigma (Rockman) mentioned, Social Experiments, VAVA | Vile (Rockman) mentioned, Yes. THAT Gamma from THAT Gamma Unit.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 19:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15541818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kumakins/pseuds/Kumakins
Summary: “What brings you here?” X asked, teetering back on his heels to look up at the Elite, A-Class Hunter.Gamma’s expression firmed. He paused long enough to ensure he held the reploid template's full attention. His brows knit resolutely as he laid out a bold proposition: “Let's fall in love."---Originally posted as a chapter in the Doctor Cain Era story, but it was too long.





	Scientific Method

### Step 1) Form a Hypothesis

“Hey, Chi!”

“My name is X.”

“I still think it could stand for Chi.”

“It doesn’t.”

“Oh, come on! Sigma’s name is a Greek letter, too, and no one calls him E!”

“I told you, X is a variable, not a...”

“Gamma can be used as a variable and it’s a Greek letter!”

X threw his hands up in practiced exasperation. They had been over this so many times, it was practically how they greeted one another. Gamma, one of Sigma’s favorite commanding officers, grinned.

“What brings you here?” X asked, teetering back on his heels to look up at the Elite, A-Class Hunter. His earthy face was framed by a blocky, orange helmet. He was far from generic in appearance but overall plain if not for the decals he plastered all over his carapace. X was certain a few were actually bumper stickers. He knew for a fact Sigma found it distasteful, but the commander tolerated these eccentricities so long as Gamma kept his partner, VAVA, in check.

Gamma’s expression firmed. He paused long enough to ensure he held the reploid template's full attention. His brows knit resolutely as he laid out a bold proposition: “Let's fall in love."

X made a strangled noise and fell back three steps. His emerald optics bulged wildly as he stammered to speak over his embarrassed panic.

"C'mon! Please?" Gamma whined at X's implicit rejection. "I already asked VAVA, but he sucker-punched me and stormed off."

X burst into rude laughter. Gamma's request was outrageous and the fact he dared ask VAVA of all people was insane. "I can't believe you did that! Is this a prank?"

"No, I'm serious; I’m super serious." Gamma pouted. "I want to fall in love."

"Why?" X tilted his head. Romance was an uncommon topic for reploids given their race’s infantility. No matter how mature an AI was programmed, life experiences were key to developing advanced relationships, and reploids as a whole were severely lacking. Initially, romance was outright dismissed as human-centric. Not all agreed familial social constructs were even applicable to their kind. Reploids didn't reproduce; thus, there was no reason to emulate mating rituals beyond physical stimulation.

"It sounds fun!" Gamma held aloft his external hard drive containing terabytes of music he couldn’t stuff into his systems. X was overly familiar with the gaudy, sticker embellished device due to the cheerful Hunter constantly, and forcefully, sharing his favorite songs. The shy template was grateful the external storage spared him from Gamma directly linking their systems. "Haven't you noticed all the best songs are about love?”

"The saddest songs are about love, too," X remarked.

"It must be worth it. No risk, no reward!" Gamma gripped his fists adamantly and X was momentarily taken by his enthusiasm. The lab tech considered his favorite songs and had to admit they were primarily celebrations of love or romantic overtures. He conceded Gamma had a point beneath his usual reckless inanity. Love must have been a great thing to inspire so many musical odes.

"Falling in love might be fun..." X warbled reluctantly. The more he vetted Gamma's logic, the more it made sense. "Scientifically speaking, no one has studied whether reploids can fall in love. Doctor Cain has been suggesting I design an experiment on my own and this could work."

"You have a rare talent for making great ideas sound crazy boring," Gamma provoked dryly. X scowled indignantly and the Hunter grinned more. The lab tech was so funny.

"Experiments are great!" X argued, hackles raising in defense of his and Doctor Cain's work.

"Fine, fine... Let's fall in love for fun and for science!" Gamma cheered, pumping his first into the air.

X wanted to be annoyed, but Gamma's excitement was contagious, and soon he was smiling, too. Neither remotely comprehended the depth of their combined ignorance. Love did sound like a fantastic game. 

X couldn't wait to present their scientific proposal to Doctor Cain.

### Step 2) Plan a Research Study

Gamma hopped off the teleport pad, blowing out a victory whoop as his feet connected with the command room floor. There was nothing quite like a job well done. Gamma knew for a fact the satisfaction was better than his pay.

"Gamma!" X’s voice chimed above the usual operator chatter. The Hunter beamed when he spotted the tech waving for attention.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Gamma lightly jogged to close the distance between them. "Looking for Commander Sigma?"

"No, not today..." Emerald optics shyly fell to the ground. X folded his fingers together when Gamma studied him expectantly. "I came to visit you. I conducted research on falling in love and wanted to share my findings."

"No way! Seriously?" The cheerful Hunter guffawed appreciatively. "That's awesome! Should'a known I could count on you to be proactive and thorough!"

"If we're going to do this, then we should do it right." X blushed at the praise. He didn't think there was anything special about researching an experiment prior to implementation, but he was pleased Gamma recognized his effort. "Let's discuss the procedure."

"You’re not going to wine and dine me first?" Gamma snickered.

"That's... That's a human idiom?” X wanted to confirm. He was getting better at identifying slang. Few spoke so casually with him prior to Gamma and he was still adjusting his language comprehension to accommodate the reploid's speech patterns.

"Yup.” Gamma chuckled at how proud X was of himself. “Do you know what it means?"

X's face fell. "No..."

"It means, let's go on a date before we get down and dirty." Gamma knew that one would fly right over the serious template's head, too. He didn't bother explaining and sauntered out of the command room. Perplexed, X followed while attempting to decode Gamma's meaning.

"You're suggesting a social engagement to verify compatibility between partners?" X pondered over the examples he had researched. "... Most of our interactions already fit the definition. You drag me places all the time."

Gamma blinked slowly. He did have a habit of drawing X into his mayhem when VAVA was being nasty and no one else was available. "Huh... Guess we have been dating. Does that mean we skipped some steps?" Mild frustration flickered across his face. He wanted to take his time and enjoy the adventure.

"Not necessarily." X quickly swooped in to save the day. "Based on what I've gathered from sitcoms, couples go through long periods of denial despite obvious attraction. This seems to be a staple trope of the romance genre."

"Oh..." Gamma wasn't sure how that made sense, but there were lots of things that didn't make sense to him. "Then we can write it off as our denial phase."

"I think so. I'm glad you underst... caught my drift." X was pleased with himself again. Gamma barely fought back a harsh fit of laughter.

"Nicely done," Gamma praised and gave X a thumbs up. The unworldly tech preened.

### Step 3) Conduct an Experiment

"So, how does dating differ from what we normally do?" Gamma lazily tossed and caught a rolled Ball de Voux. He sprawled his back across the 17th Unit commons' sofa, knees hanging over the far armrest and kicking rhythmically. Gamma rested his head near X's seat on the opposite end as he idly amused himself with the spherical mechaniloid.

X frowned and reached over to snag the poor creature midair before Gamma could catch again. He sat it in his lap to pet the Ball de Voux, silently offering reassurance he wouldn't allow anyone to use it as a toy anymore.

"Hey!" Gamma whined.

"Like I said earlier, we already tend to behave as a couple," X answered the initial question to cut off further protest. Gamma twisted, pushed up onto his arms and knees, then reached for the ball. X pulled up his leg to position a foot against the Hunter's shoulder guard, keeping the mechaniloid a few inches shy of Gamma's reach. The conversation continued without pause as they struggled. "The major difference is we don't hold hands or put our arms around each other." X grunted from the effort of holding Gamma back.

"Holding hands?" The Ball de Voux was temporarily forgotten. Gamma sat back and thought over his own research. "Holding hands the first time is an important moment, right?"

"It seems to be held in higher esteem by young humans than adults..." X was uncertain. He replaced the mechaniloid in his lap once Gamma backed off. "We're both considered young so it’s probably important for us.”

"Cool! Then let's make sure we do it in a memorable way," Gamma insisted with mounting vigor. "Like with fireworks or something."

"Where would we get fireworks?" More pressingly, where would they set fireworks off without raising alarm? Doctor Cain might allow it on his property if they explained themselves.

... X quickly nixed the idea. Cain would definitely tease him.

"VAVA probably has something like fireworks." Gamma enjoyed watching X's face twist with discomfort. "I can ask him."

"How do you get along with VAVA?" X was bewildered by Gamma's ability to get along with everyone. He wouldn't go so far to say VAVA liked the juvenile Hunter or his sunny disposition, but VAVA appeared to hate him less than most people.

"Dunno. Maybe because our names rhyme?" Gamma shrugged. He ignored the harassed scowl X shot him for his insincere guesstimate. "Look, VAVA isn't going to like you no matter what, so don't bother. He's a weirdo with a screw loose."

"That's mean," X pointed out.

"Facts are mean sometimes." Gamma lurched for the Ball de Voux when X was distracted. Unfortunately, he underestimated X's response time and found the template's foot in his face. He made a withering whine and rolled off the couch to grip his sore nose. "Why am I the only person in the world you're aggressive around?"

"You bring out the best in me." X flashed a dangerously coy smile. The tech decided he rather liked idioms. He also liked how niceness wasn't a necessity for Gamma to like him. Removing the constant yoke of mandatory politeness was liberating. X preferred to be mannerly but relished in the option to speak plainly without consequence.

Gamma laughed as he climbed back onto the couch and X smiled privately. His core hummed, coaxing a faint rosy tint across his cheeks. Gamma always rewarded X for being himself even when he was wrong or ill behaved. The Hunter still had moments where he failed to separate X as a person from the mythical scion of Doctor Light, but he never disparaged X for not living up to his ancestry. The last Lightbot couldn't have asked for more.

"Um, X, what about the fireworks?" Gamma spoke with uncharacteristic bashfulness and X puckered in confusion. He glanced down at Gamma's hand folded into in his light grip. When did that happen? Stung by surprise, he quickly released Gamma’s hand. X held both his palms up in surrender, guilt splashing across his face as if caught committing a crime.

"I-I didn't mean to!"

Gamma coughed awkwardly. He was unwilling to abandon their romantic plans, but that had been nice. So that was the appeal of hand holding to young humans. 

“Guess we can consider this a practice run. Practice makes perfect." Gamma held out his hand again.

X was cautious and embarrassed as he studied Gamma. Reflexively he was inclined to argue it didn't make sense to practice holding hands, but couldn't bring himself to vocalize the obvious flaws in Gamma's logic. He stared straight forward at the furthest wall, sat stiffly, then accepted the Hunter's hand.

Neither made eye contact as they fidgeted in silence.

### Step 4) Analyze the Data

Gamma never could have guessed X was capable of such anger.

"X, get back here!" Gamma trailed after the sapphire typhoon. The typically mild-mannered template unrelentingly smashed a door aside. Gamma cringed sympathetically. The door's only crime was standing in X's path on the wrong day and it paid dearly. Gamma attempted to sound authoritative but nerves drained any force from his voice. "Let's talk about this!"

X was about as interested in talking as a rampaging bull. He stormed into Doctor Cain's office, blazing optics automatically fixated on the old man slumped in a puddle of miscellaneous fluids. X sincerely hoped it was only drool and spilt drink. He knelt to delicately pluck a bottle from Cain's hand, turning the empty container to expose its label.

"How much?"

Gamma shuddered. X's voice was deceitfully calm, but his sharp tone threatened to slice the Hunter open. Gamma rung his hands and babbled. "I didn't know he had a drinking problem! Someone I rescued gave it to me as thanks, and human alcohol does nothing for us, so I passed it onto him because he's the only human I really know and--"

"How. Much."

"Er... I hadn't opened it, so... the whole thing?" Gamma wished he called Sigma. Angry Sigma was scary but angry X was inconceivably terrifying. He had no idea what the template might do; he had never known X to lose his temper. He didn't know X had a temper to lose. Gamma was ill prepared for the reality that X's heart was far from an infinite pool of mercy.

"The whole thing!?" X erupted with a blast of incredulous rage and astonishment. "You sat there and watched him drink all of this?"

"It's not my fault!" Gamma clenched his fists. "He's a grown human and can make his own decisions!”

"He's my human." 

The oceanic weight of X's words crushed Gamma. He was little more than a wayward submarine arrogantly out of its depth. The template was borderline irrational but Gamma couldn't miss the implication: his carelessness harmed someone priceless to X. Cain was X's human and Gamma enabled Cain. Right now it didn't matter whether it was reasonable to expect Gamma knew better. Nor did it matter if he was unfairly blamed. X's human was hurt and nothing else mattered.

Gamma's wounded pride was meaningless in comparison, and defending it further was mere selfishness at this point. X wouldn’t listen until he calmed down, and X wouldn't calm down until Cain was better.

"... What can I do?" Gamma shakily resigned himself. 

"Get water." X turned away and eased Cain into his arms, ignoring how Gamma's lips thinned at the terse order. The Hunter briskly marched off to fulfill his task. 

Gamma couldn't fathom why it cut so deeply when X talked to him like that.

Once Cain was hydrated and comfortably snoozing on a cot, the tech and Hunter stood side-by-side in rigid silence. Neither knew how to approach the other. Neither knew how to leave, either. Cowardice tethered them in place as they shamefully chafed against the fear of rejection. Doubt suffocated every attempt to speak, but doing nothing was far too painful for the elder reploid.

X trepidly linked fingers with Gamma, leaving his grip lose and permitting the Hunter to easily rebuff his touch. The taller reploid's shoulders stiffened then sighed into a slouch. He wordlessly accepted X's hand.

X scrubbed away hot tears with the back of his lab coat sleeve, unintentionally smudging his cheeks with unknown fluid. Gamma did nothing when a sob broke the silence. He already knew X wasn't crying over him. None of this had ever been about him, and he wasn't going to insult further X by making it about him now. Gamma remained by the distraught lab tech's side in solidarity as they watched Cain sleep off the booze.

Gamma could respect X had good reason for losing control.

"When did it start?"

"After the first Maverick was declared..."

They didn't talk anymore. The air was too heavy with unspoken thoughts neither wanted to share.

### Step 5) Present the Findings

"Hold on, there's a hole in my heart..."

"... Everyone can see right through me!"

Gamma grinned at X's delicately blushing face when he managed to pick up the lyrics where his duet partner left off. Exactly as planned. Now they would pass the song back and forth, build up the tension, then harmonize at the chorus. 

X looked like he might fall apart from nerves right up until he started singing. Though the blush never left, X's lips parted into a bright smile as he swayed rhythmically. Gamma noted he enjoyed the harmonization best and delighted in their sound waves accentuating one another. They oscillated in practiced synchronization until someone forgot the words and everything fell apart into shameless laughter.

"That was really good!" Gravity Beetle clapped his hands together. Storm Eagle, a new recruit, was nonplused as he stared at his senior flatly.

"What does this have to do with training?" the Junior demanded.

"Lesson one: Don’t question me!" Gamma declared sternly. X laughed and shook his head.

"He's being silly," the tech amended. He pitied the serious avian reploid for getting stuck with Gamma as his mentor. Neither suited the other very well.

"Ah..." Storm was less than impressed and turned his attention to X. "I am surprised you have such strong vocals considering how softly you speak."

"I don't have many reasons to speak louder." X shrugged his shoulders as he sat against the tree their group settled beneath. He flinched while easing down on his bottom.

"Does it still hurt where VAVA kicked you?" Gravity asked, swatting lightly at Gamma for his immature giggling.

"Chi, you made the funniest sound!" Gamma's laughter turned into a yelp when Gravity delivered a hard punch to his thigh.

"I'm fine." X notably raised no objections to Gravity retaliating on his behalf.

“Hey, not to put you two on the spot, but is it true you guys are... um... dating?” Gravity evidently had no idea what it meant to put anyone on the spot. X very much felt put on the spot, thank you. Gamma even had the decency to look scandalized.

“We’ve been conducting an experiment.” X’s eyes darted to his scientific partner. “It’s... um... We’ve grown closer from spending so much time together. If all goes according to plan, we should theoretically fall in... i-in...” Suddenly, it was difficult to say. X choked as something molten and raw clogged his vocal unit.

Gamma grimaced, rubbing the back of his helmet. “Yeah. It was my idea,” he stepped in when X faltered. “I’m starting to get why love songs are so complicated...”

“Why?” Storm Eagle found the concept ludicrous and intriguing. He never heard of reploids trying to date or fall in love.

“People are complicated.” Gamma spoke haltingly as he teetered on untested thoughts. “I mean, that’s not bad. It’s pretty cool, actually. It’s just- Love isn’t something you can force without thinking about the other person. I mean, yeah, I thought about X, but... not as...”

X was hanging on Gamma’s every word, parsing each syllable and twitch of body language. His core ached with gratitude and anxiety. Cautiously, he smiled and nodded his encouragement. He understood.

“You know, not as a real person,” Gamma finished in a meek gust. “I only thought of him as a love interest.”

“It’s ok,” X soothed. “I didn’t think, either.” Gamma’s words were simultaneously cathartic and painful. He appreciated them more than the Hunter would ever know. “In the end, I think we succeeded, though.”

“What? Are you in love with me?” Gamma’s face darkened and mouth gaped. X laughed.

“I think we did fall in love, but not in the way we planned,” X mused gently. His eyes shimmered with warmth. “Gamma, you’re a good friend. Thank you.”

Gamma fluttered awkwardly in a rare display of self-consciousness. X could never be more perfect in his eyes than at this exact moment. He beamed. Love really was a great adventure.

“Awesome.”


End file.
